Philadelphia Contingent Travels to Harrisburg for Gun Control Rally

(A Philadelphia contingent of gun control advocates boards a bus in North Philadelphia for a trip to Harrisburg. Credit: Paul Kurtz)

By Paul Kurtz

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Hundreds of people from across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania joined with lawmakers today for a rally in Harrisburg in support of stricter gun control laws.

About two dozen people, determined to make their voices heard, boarded a bus in North Philadelphia for the ride to Harrisburg.

“There are too many illegal guns on our street, and we’re going to talk about that and how painful that is for us,” said Dorothy Johnson-Speight, founder of Mothers in Charge, a group made up of people whose loved ones have been murdered. “These guns are causing us to lose our sons and daughters and loved ones to violence.”

Orla Treacy of Cease Fire PA says this coalition has a number of demands, “one of them a background check for long guns. In the State of Pennsylvania you don’t have to run a background check for a gun such as an AK-47, which I think makes no sense to 95 percent of Pennsylvanians,” she said.